The references cited throughout the present application are not admitted to be prior art to the claimed invention.
Staphylococcus epidermidis has emerged as pathogen, particularly in nosocomial and immune compromised patients. (Ziebuhr et al., International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents 28S:S14-S20, 2006.) Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), mainly S. epidermidis, are the most frequently isolated microorganism infection associated with foreign bodies used in diagnostic or therapeutic procedures. (Heilmann and Peters, Biology and Pathogenicity of Staphylococcus epidermidis, In: Gram Positive Pathogens, Eds. Fischetti et al., American Society for Microbiology, Washington D.C. 2000 and The Staphylococci in Human Disease, Crossley and Archer (eds.), Churchill Livingstone Inc. 1997.)
Nucleic acid from S. epidermis has been sequenced to obtain nucleic acid sequence information and make predictions concerning open reading frames and potential polypeptides. (Doucette-Stamm et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,380,370 and Doucette-Stamm et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,060,458.)
Techniques such as those involving display technology and sera from infected patients can be used in an effort to identify genes coding for potential antigens. (Meinke et al., International Publication No. WO 02/059148, Meinke et al., International Publication No. WO 04/087746.)